Vol. 77/No. 16      April 29, 2013

NEW YORK — More than 1,500 school bus workers packed Christ the King High School auditorium here in Middle Village, Queens, April 4, for their first union meeting since officials of Amalgamated Transport Union Local 1181 ended a monthlong strike Feb. 15. The meeting was a show of opposition to wage and benefit cuts announced by 60 bus companies March 22.

Dozens of union members were turned away by fire marshals, who said the room was filled past capacity.

Some 8,800 school bus drivers, matrons and mechanics went on strike Jan. 16 after union contracts expired and city officials declared Employee Protection Provisions in place for more than 34 years “illegal” and said they would be void for 1,100 bus routes up for bid by private companies. The provisions ensure that laid-off workers are hired according to seniority and at their previous wage no matter which companies win periodic bidding for bus routes.

Ending the strike without a contract gave the companies a green light to implement their final offer, which included a 7.5 percent wage cut for drivers, the elimination of two weeks’ paid vacation and higher health insurance costs.

“The imposed contract also has new matrons starting at $10.50 per hour and limits them to five hours per day,” bus driver Gloria Flaherty said outside the auditorium. Before the strike, matrons started at $11 an hour, topped out at $15.31 and were paid for an eight-hour day.

“This is a $90-a-week cut in pay,” said Vadely Constant, a driver for Atlantic Express.

Constant and a handful of other workers said another strike is needed, but most at the meeting did not see how that was possible right now.

The New York Daily News reported April 11 that city officials are now saying that the protection provisions were only illegal for the new bids but still apply to unexpired contracts for 6,600 existing bus routes.

—Dan Fein

Quebec hotel striker: ‘We’ll stand one minute longer than bosses’

SAINT-HYACINTHE, Quebec — The strike by 180 workers at Hôtel des Seigneurs here has entered its fifth month. The workers, members of the Confederation of National Trade Unions, voted 85 percent to go on strike Oct. 28 for higher wages and more hiring to cut down on forced overtime.

“We hold very lively picket lines and held a carnival,” Adrienne Dubé said on the picket line March 27. “We often receive solidarity from other workers. This is very encouraging.”

“As long as we stand one more minute than the bosses, we are the winners,” said Dubé.

Last fall union workers at 20 hotels across the province signed four-year contracts that include 3 percent annual wage increases, 2 percent increases in employer pension funds, and some protection from job cuts. Workers at 15 other hotels are still without new contracts.

Hôtel des Seigneurs workers are demanding an additional hourly increase of 60 cents. Chambermaids make $14.09 an hour compared to $19.62 at the Montreal Hyatt Regency.

—Félix Vincent Ardea and Annette Kouri

NY meat department workers fight lockout, wage cuts

NEW YORK — Nearly 100 butchers and wrappers have been picketing at nine Trade Fair supermarkets in the borough of Queens here since the company locked them out following a three-hour “unfair labor practice” strike March 13.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 342’s contract with Trade Fair expired in November. According to a union leaflet the company is proposing “no wage increases, extensive changes to our health care coverage, eliminating job classifications, eliminating guaranteed hours” and eliminating time and half for Sunday work.

“We will continue to explore every legal venue to ensure that these members are returned to work, and treated fairly under the law,” Local 342 Deputy Communications Director Kate Meckler said in an email.

“We are in negotiations. The lockout is on the union’s terms,” Trade Fair spokesman Martin Jacobson told the Militant. “The workers walked off the job.”

The locked-out workers have been getting support from workers at other Trade Fair departments who belong to UFCW Local 338 as well as from other area unions. Three workers from Fresh Direct, a grocery that takes orders online, joined the picket line April 6. Picket lines are up from 7 a.m. to midnight.

Nine New York City Council members from Queens signed a letter asking Trade Fair to end the lockout.

—Rebecca Williamson, worker at Fresh Direct